Tag Archives: prayer

Then Daniel went to his home and informed his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions with the rest of the wise men of Babylon might not perish. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said: “Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. To you, O God of my ancestors, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power, and have now revealed to me what we asked of you, for you have revealed to us what the king ordered.” (Daniel 2:17-23, NRSV)

Daniel went and prayed to God along with his friends, and God listened to their prayers and revealed to Daniel the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of it

God is to be praised for His steadfast love and care for us. Daniel was set to be killed, but God gave him the answers he needed to appease the king.

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” (1 Kings 17:17-24, NRSV)

Elijah went to the widow as God told him to, and while he was staying with her and her son, her son died.

But Elijah knew God would not allow this. He prayed to God and asked Him to restore the life of this child.

And it wasn’t enough for the widow that the grain and oil in her jar that she was going to make her last meal didn’t run out, but now with the bringing back to life of her son she knows that Elijah is a man of God.

Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation towards us. Will you be angry with us for ever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85, NRSV)

God will bring peace in His time. Let us all pray this psalm so that God’s time would make more sense to us.

Finally, maybe the weather will get warmer and stay warmer so we can turn the heat off, and get outside and enjoy the sun and the wonderful scents of campfires and cookouts!

And now is the time when the kids are out of school and we will be going every which way.

As you go this summer, make sure that you don’t forget about time to worship. We need to spend time with God, and commune with the church.

Now, this does not always have to be done at St. John’s here in Little Suamico. There are many fine churches around the world that you can join for worship on a Sunday morning. I encourage you to find a congregation close to you if you are traveling where you can visit. And if you do, bring me back a bulletin, so I can see how they do their bulletin and let me know your thoughts on the worship there.

Or if you are camping out, or just can’t find someplace, you can worship around a fire, or in your hotel room. There are many resources out there for you and many for your smartphone.

So here are some links for you to apps for your phones to keep you connected to God this summer and always.

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. (Acts 1:6-14, NRSV)

After Jesus ascended, they returned to Jerusalem, and they were together devoting themselves to prayer.

They prayed as a group, devoting themselves to praying together as a community.

We need to hold each other up in prayer. That is what God has called us to do. In loving our brothers and sisters, we need to lift them to our Father in heaven.

The cord of 3 strands is so much stronger, tightly woven for all of us.

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. (John 17:1-11, NRSV)

On the night before He is arrested, put on trial and crucified Jesus takes the time to pray for the disciples, and those disciples that are yet to come.

On the night before He was wrongly sentenced to death He had you on His mind.

Jesus asked God, not on His behalf but on behalf of those whom God has given Him.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47, NRSV)

They were all together and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread, meaning eating together, and prayers.

They took care of each other, as they were devoted to God and community.

And God showed others what was happening and added to their numbers daily.